Assessment

6/11/2013

In April, some 1.2 million New York students took their first Common Core State Standards tests, which are supposed to assess their knowledge and thinking. The first wave of exams was so overwhelming that some parents refused to let their children take the test.﻿

Ability grouping and its close cousin, tracking, in which children take different classes based on their proficiency levels, fell out of favor in the late 1980s and the 1990s as critics charged that they perpetuated inequality by trapping poor and minority students in low-level groups.

6/7/2013

Raleigh Public school students take too many tests, Gov. Pat McCrory told education leaders Wednesday, and the state needs to figure out how to lighten the load. During a meeting with the State Board of Education, McCrory said he has instructed his new senior education adviser, Eric Guckian, to identify which tests are unnecessary and report back by the end of the summer.

6/5/2013

Results of the 2012-2013 national occupational competency exams show that almost 89 percent of seniors at York County School of Technology who were tested scored either "competent" or "advanced," exceeding the national standard of 72 percent and the state average of 82 percent for career and tech ed high schools.

6/3/2013

In terms of the grades Louisiana gives to schools, high schools had a really good year. Unfortunately, some of that was because of a generous new rating scale from the state, not in terms of real performance in the classroom.

5/31/2013

Six board members, excluding Trustee Frances L. Hayes, submitted evaluations and gave superintendent Deborah Hunter-Harvill a combined score of 53.9 percent out of 100. That rating is "minimally effective" based on 12 categories such as relationship with the board, educational leadership and progress toward the school improvement plan.﻿

5/29/2013

Based on interviews and research, the ideas in this white paper build upon lessons learned in analyzing information systems developed by competency education innovators, including best practices of systemic approaches to information management and emerging opportunities.

An independent report of the Waltham public schools’ technology and library programs revealed both positive and negative findings, and raises eyebrows from school officials about the method in which the report was conducted.

5/28/2013

Fewer than 60 percent of Florida’s third-graders — 57 percent — are reading at or above grade level, according to FCAT results released Friday morning. The figure represents a slight increase from last year’s 56 percent.

5/22/2013

Recognizing that American K12 students have fallen behind foreign students in their grasp of scientific principles, educators have devised a new set of teaching guidelines that will radically change the way science is taught in classrooms across the United States—including recommendations that climate change and evolution be taught as core elements of scientific knowledge.

5/17/2013

While data gained via standardized tests like NJASK may be extremely helpful, especially when paired with other data points, the over-emphasis on such testing is a classic example of how state and federal mandates are threatening to completely bypass local control.

S.C high school students would no longer have to pass an exit exam to graduate if a state House bill becomes law – welcome news for the thousands of students who struggle year after year to pass both the test’s math and English sections.

5/16/2013

An advisory council has been crafting minimum standards in four core subjects that would be required to graduate from Colorado high schools — baselines that could be achieved through a variety of standardized test scores or other means.